Cuddles
by MightyMerlin
Summary: The reason why Merlin shouldn't be allowed any pets...


**Hello everyone, this is my first fanfic and its just a series of drabbles between a few characters. Let me know if you spot any typing errors please and I hope you all enjoy it :)**

**Disclaimer: I dont own Merlin or anything about it**

Cuddles

**Prologue:**

Merlin had gotten bored over the last few weeks. Gaius had been indifferent to his boredom, saying he should be thankful for having such quiet considering what he usually went through. Merlin had disagreed, saying boredom was worse than getting funny looks from Morgana, and that had caused Gaius to raise his eyebrows and say nothing more.

Which was why Merlin was now weaving his magic on the animal in front of him…. A badger. After a few moments, the glow surrounding the badger ceased and Merlin smiled….until it sneezed and a jet of flame flew over his head. After blocking the flames with a hastily raised shield, Merlin looked at the creature he had modified.

"Nice….wonder how that happened? Never mind, you need a name….how about Cuddles?"

Cuddles yawned and curled up on his bed and Merlin grinned again.

**Uther:**

"Oh no"

Merlin had woken up to find Cuddles gone from his room and a huge smoking hole in both his door and the door that led out into the corridor outside. After a lot of running and following many scorch marks in the corridor, he came across the throne room where Uther Pendragon was holding his sword in an attacking posture.

"My Lord?"

Uther turned around to see Arthurs scrawny manservant standing there. He wasn't even smiling at the King, which earned Uthers grudging respect.

"There's a….magical creature in here"

"Are you alright sire?"

"Yes…"

Then Cuddles chose that moment to turn visible and leap up to bite Uther on the backside and rip a huge chunk of his trousers before scampering away with the cloth in his mouth. Uther roared and looked up after dropping his sword and grabbing the painful wound to see Merlin run out of the room and chase after the creature.

"He's stupid but brave that one" the King muttered as he hobbled away.

**Leon:**

"Merlin!"

Merlin stopped in his tracks to see Ser Leon standing there and holding Cuddles in his arms with a bemused expression on his face.

"Sire?"

"Where did this badger come from? And more to the point, why were you chasing it?"

"Erm….he's my pet! I'm just trying to train him"

"Well, he's not very well trained Merlin. He's just attacked two guards who tried to stop him and you know how I caught him? I gave him some sausages"

Merlin winced.

"Sire…put him down before…."

Then Cuddles belched and a jet of blue flame erupted from his mouth and set Leons hair alight. Merlin tried to hide the grin as Leon dropped Cuddles and dumped his head into a bucket of water and glared at Merlin….only to see the Princes manservant running away at top speed, chasing after the obviously magical badger.

"Whenever magic is involved, Merlin is there…." Leon muttered, running his hand along his head….to find hardly any hair left.

"MERLIN!"

**Lancelot:**

"Where has he got to now?" Merlin gasped, putting his hands on his knees to catch his breath back.

Then he heard a lot of laughter coming from the training fields and stumbled over to watch Lancelot throwing a training dummy's head across the field to be caught by Cuddles, who ripped it apart with his razor sharp fangs and spat pieces out before looking to Lancelot again.

"Lancelot! Don't get him excited!" Merlin yelled as he ran over.

Of course, just by seeing his master was enough for Cuddles to get excited straight away…..he ran over to Lancelot and jumped onto the top of his head and clung on with his claws.

"Get it off me!" Lancelot yelled, falling over.

"Come here you" Merlin muttered, gently grabbing Cuddles and picking him up, releasing the hold he had had on Lancelot….and sniggering when he saw Lancelot's red claw marks on his forehead.

"Merlin, have you been messing around again?" Lancelot muttered as he ran his fingers along the cuts.

"Sorry" Merlin replied "I'm bored"

"Yes well…just make sure he doesn't do anything else"

"What else could happen?" Merlin said, stroking Cuddles head.

"Hey that's a cute badger!" Elyan said, walking over and scratching the badgers head.

**Elyan:**

"Elyan….you might want to be careful…he's not…sane" Merlin muttered.

"Oh nonsense Merlin, I have seen badgers before, I know what they like" Elyan replied.

Merlin let Elyan grab Cuddles and couldn't help but smile when Cuddles snuggled up to Elyan and sniffed his nose.

"See? He's…aaarrrrgh!"

Merlin looked on as Cuddles now tried to jam his snout into Elyans open mouth, and when that didn't work, he began to lick the startled knights face.

"Told you" Merlin grinned, trying to grab Cuddles…only for Cuddles to spin around and let loose a torrent of fire which Merlin just managed to duck….and when he looked again, Cuddles had vanished.

"Ok, that's not a normal badger" Elyan muttered, looking at Merlin.

"Got to go" was Merlins response before running off, wondering where Cuddles has gone next…and found a set of paw prints that led to the bench where Percival was reading quietly.

"Oh no" Merlin muttered.

**Percival:**

"Merlin"

"Percival" Merlin replied politely, watching uneasily as the big knight thumbed through the small bunch of parchments "What are they?"

"Oh, they're just small stories…I like to write and read when I'm not training"

"That's great" Merlin said….then blurted out "have you seen any badgers around here?"

"You mean like that one?"

Merlin followed Percivals outstretched finger to see Cuddles lying at his feet and chewing through a pile of parchment.

"Erm yeah"

"Don't worry, they were drafts Merlin…I didn't like them anyway"

Merlin nodded and picked Cuddles up, his mouth still full of chewed up paper and smiled. As he walked away, he didn't dare tell him about the puddle of urine at the knights feet…

"You're getting me into so much trouble you know"

Cuddles merely licked Merlins cheek as he carried his wayward magical badger away from Percival, who now looked down at his soaked feet and saw Merlin running away…

"That's a very strange badger" Percival muttered as he wiped his feet on the ground.

**Gwen:**

"Hello Merlin…Awwwww that's a gorgeous badger!"

"My lady" Merlin replied. Gwen was now a Lady of Camelot after Morganas short reign as Queen but she hated it when someone said 'My lady' to her…and now was no exception.

"What did I tell you about what to call me Merlin?" she asked him, rolling her eyes as she stroked Cuddles' back.

"Sorry Gwen, force of habit"

"He's lovely…I knew you had a soft spot with animals but…"

And then Cuddles jumped out of Merlins grasp and into Gwens, who held him close and smiled.

"At least he's behaved himself" Merlin muttered.

Cuddles instantly grabbed some of Gwens long hair in his jaws and wouldn't let go. Gwen started spinning around wildly to try an dislodge the animal and crashed into Merlin, sending him to the ground and falling on top of him. Cuddles ran off again, snorting fire from his nostrils as Gwen looked at Merlin pinned beneath her and looked at him.

"That's a very odd badger Merlin…I've never seen one that breathes fire"

"Erm,…yeah…could you let me up Gwen? Before that prat sees us?"

Gwen blushed and got to her feet…and Merlin shot off like a terrified rabbit, leaving Gwen to fiddle with her now ruined hair.

"You owe me Merlin" she muttered with a smile as she walked away.

**Gaius:**

"Merlin"

"Oh great" Merlin muttered as he entered Gaius' chambers to see Cuddles sitting on the table and sending jets of flame across the room, trying to hit the few flies that were buzzing around.

"Would you mind telling me why a badger is snorting flames, attacking the King and the knights as well as Guinevere?"

"Erm….not now"

"Merlin!"

"I'm BORED Gaius! Besides, Cuddles here just needs a little training"

"He needs to go Merlin…take him to the forest and…"

Cuddles then looked at Gaius and his raised eyebrows…and thinking they were moths of some sort, another blue jet of flame erupted from Cuddles' mouth and set fire to Gaius' eyebrows.

"Gaius!" Merlin yelled, his eyes flaring gold and dumping a bucket of water over the Court Physicians head.

"Merlin….get it out of here" Gaius said quietly, trying to find his eyebrows.

Merlin wisely nodded and picked up Cuddles once more and ran out of the room.

**Arthur:**

Merlin had been running for a few seconds….and slammed into what felt like a wall. Cuddles fell to the floor and hissed at the person who Merlin had ran into.

"Merlin. Nice to see you….idiot"

"Dollophead"

Arthur glared at his manservant….and when his eyes fell on the very angry badger sitting next to Merlin, he raised his eyebrow.

"Been hanging around with those of equal intelligence then MER-lin?"

"Better him than those with less sire" Merlin replied cheekily.

Arthur narrowed his eyes and shook his head to try and think of another comeback…when Cuddles suddenly launched himself forwards, ran up Arthurs leg and under his tunic…

"ARGH! MER-LIN! GET THIS….THING….OUT…."

Merlin couldn't help but snigger at the sight of Arthur frantically running his hands around his body as he tried to stop the badger from crawling around under his shirt.

"MEEEEEEEEERLIN!"

Merlin nearly jumped and ran forwards to lift Arthurs shirt and Cuddles ran out and jumped to the floor. Before Arthur could say anything, Merlin scooped up the badger and ran off with Arthur yelling after him.

"GET BACK HERE YOU IDIOT!"

**Morgana:**

Merlin ran into the forests with Arthurs last insult still ringing in his ears and a grin on his face. Cuddles was sniffing his neck enthusiastically and Merlin grinned wider.

"I'm not getting rid of you" he muttered.

"_Hello Merlin_"

Merlin stopped in his tracks and looked over to see Morgana standing in front of him, her long black dress fluttering in the cold breeze as her eyes locked onto him.

"Morgana" Merlin replied, backing off a little.

"I'm just here to talk" Morgana said, holding up a hand and walking a little closer.

"I've got to go"

"Not yet Merlin…..I've been waiting to speak to you for a while and now here you are"

Morgana smiled as she walked closer, backing Merlin into a tree.

Thankfully, before Morgana could even say anything , Cuddles once again jumped out of Merlins arms and ran towards Morgana…straight under her dress.

"What the…GET OFF MY LEG!" Morgana yelled, falling to the floor.

"Don't move!" Merlin yelled as he ran forwards, ignoring the thought running through his head…._why help her?, _and sitting down in front of Morgana and holding her ankle. "Just don't move"

Merlin clicked his fingers and Cuddles walked out from under her skirts and licked Morganas ankle. Merlin looked at Morgana with difficulty so he was surprised to see her eyes soften.

"Tell you what Merlin….let me keep this gorgeous creature and I will leave you alone" Morgana muttered, stroking Cuddles' head.

"Alright milady, but he's a troublemaker"

Morgana actually _smiled _at Merlins title for her and even went so far as to kiss his cheek before walking off into the woods with Cuddles held in her arms. Merlin smiled a little at the lingering feel of the kiss and walked away, hoping that Cuddles would be happier where he was now…

**Morgause:**

"Look what I found sister"

Morgause looked over to see Morgana hugging a badger and smiling as the animal sniffed her neck.

"Where in the world did you find this…..thing?"

"It's a badger and its mine…I got it from Merlin"

"That infernal boy GAVE you that badger? Morgana, what were you thinking?"

Morgana shrugged and tickled Cuddles under the chin before replying.

"He stopped this lovely thing from crawling further up my leg"

Morgause could only stare…until Cuddle sneezed as it leapt out of Morganas arms. And once again, a blue jet of flame erupted and set fire to Morgauses red dress. She snarled and put the fire out and looked at the obviously magical badger with a raised eyebrow while Morgana looked at it with a smirk.

"Seems he likes you sister"

"Get. Rid. Of. That. Thing" Morgause said warily.

"You don't like it because it doesn't like you" Morgana pouted, picking Cuddles up.

"Sister. You know that Merlin isn't what he seems to be….something odd always happens when he's around"

"I know that Morgause…but he's so cute! The badger I mean, not Merlin"

Morgause looked on as Morganas cheeks went red and shook her head.

"Alright, FINE. But if he does anything bad….he's out"

"Morgana smirked again as she walked forwards and hugged Morgause with one arm, allowing Cuddles to sniff Morgauses neck gently…and Morgause couldn't help but smile….


End file.
